Here's What's Concerning About Shufersal's (TLV:SAE) Returns On Capital

If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Although, when we looked at Shufersal (TLV:SAE), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Shufersal:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.057 = ₪595m ÷ (₪15b - ₪4.4b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

Therefore, Shufersal has an ROCE of 5.7%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Consumer Retailing industry average of 9.1%.

Check out our latest analysis for Shufersal

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Shufersal's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you want to delve into the historical earnings , check out these free graphs detailing revenue and cash flow performance of Shufersal.

How Are Returns Trending?

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Shufersal doesn't inspire confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 5.7% from 9.0% five years ago. However it looks like Shufersal might be reinvesting for long term growth because while capital employed has increased, the company's sales haven't changed much in the last 12 months. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.

On a related note, Shufersal has decreased its current liabilities to 29% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.

The Bottom Line

Bringing it all together, while we're somewhat encouraged by Shufersal's reinvestment in its own business, we're aware that returns are shrinking. And investors may be recognizing these trends since the stock has only returned a total of 9.5% to shareholders over the last five years. Therefore, if you're looking for a multi-bagger, we'd propose looking at other options.

Shufersal does have some risks, we noticed 3 warning signs (and 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) we think you should know about.

While Shufersal may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.